Amphibious Armies

Following two weeks of hot, dry weather, the seasonal lake at the Forum Nature Area, in Columbia, Missouri, is rapidly shrinking.  Broad mud...

Sunflowers on a Sea Bed

Leaving for Missouri this morning, we headed east across the vast bed of a Cretaceous Sea, which stretched from Texas to British Columbia, s...

The Atlantic Hurricane Drought

Tropical depression is setting in at the Weather Channel.  Despite early forecasts for a reasonably active hurricane season, none of the nam...

Combating Genocide

When a dictator and his regime embark on a course of genocide, as appears to be happening in Syria, the civilized world must intervene.  The...

Southwest Flooding

Tropical moisture, swept into the Desert Southwest by Tropical Depression Ivo (now off the Baja Peninsula), has been caught in the Southwest...

Nighthawk Exodus

As the first hint of autumn penetrates the heat of summer, common nighthawks prepare for their long journey to South America.  Dedicated ins...

Monsoon Reprieve

After more than a week of hot, dry weather, monsoon rains swept across the Front Range over the past two days and, last evening, our Littlet...

The Greenland Ice Sheet

Greenland's massive ice sheet covers 80% of the island and sits in a topographic basin surrounded by highlands.  Over 1500 miles long (n...

Endorsing Pseudoscience

Over the past few decades, there has been an explosion of books and programs that, while based on a kernel of scientific data, embellish the...

Northern Cardinals in Colorado

As I discussed in a post back in February, 2007 (see Settlers and Cardinals ), northern cardinals were limited to the southern tier of Stat...

Oil & Wilderness

Yasuni National Park, in eastern Ecuador, lies on the eastern slope of the Andes in the upper Amazon Basin.  It protects one of the most bio...

Little Brown Bats

For most of us who live in North America, the small bats that flutter overhead on summer evenings are little brown bats.  Residents of the T...

Black-headed Grosbeaks

Summer residents of western North America, from the High Plains to the Pacific Coast and from southwestern Canada to northern Mexico, black-...

Cottontail Comeback

Soon after we purchased our Littleton, Colorado, farm, cottontails disappeared from the property, extirpated by red fox that established a d...

The Nature of Aging

Having punched the annual time clock of life three days ago, I, like most human males, am not modest about my age (63 journeys around the su...

Deluge on the High Plains

Heading back to Denver today, the weather cooperated through Missouri and Kansas except for some brief, heavy rain east of Kansas City.  In ...

Advice from Strangers

While taking advice from strangers is not often recommended, especially when it relates to investments, donations and other financial matter...

The Hurricane Sweepstakes

The Atlantic Hurricane Season runs from June through November, peaking from August to mid October.  Before the season begins, several organi...

Cranes at Grand Pass

Yesterday, I visited Grand Pass Conservation Area, northwest of Marshall, Missouri.  Stretching south from the Missouri River, this refuge a...

Humans and the Supernatural

Once education, reason and experience convince many of us to abandon the simplistic beliefs of organized religions, we often retain a fascin...

The Pecos River

The Pecos River rises in the Pecos Wilderness of the Sangre de Cristo Range in north-central New Mexico; its uppermost tributaries gather ea...

Grand Bluffs Conservation Area

Facing a warm, sunny afternoon and no specific plans, my wife and I decided to visit Grand Bluffs Conservation Area along the Missouri River...

Green Herons

Formerly known as little green herons or green-backed herons, green herons are common summer residents of wetland areas throughout most of t...

Ding Darling of the Midwest

In December, 1974, I visited Sanibel Island, Florida, with my wife's family.  During that vacation we toured Ding Darling National Wildl...

The Tasmanian Bridge

During the Triassic Period, about 200 million years ago (MYA), the supercontinent of Pangea split into Laurasia (the northern Continents) an...